


terrible sting and terrible storm

by orphan_account



Series: space au [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-23 14:57:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14334951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “How do you know me?” Taeyong asks, tries to not let his heart jolt too obviously at the mention of his home planet.“I just said, I’m from Inanna also. You may have deserted, but you’re as much as a legend as always,” the man shrugs, rests his head on one of his hands. “That doesn’t matter, what matters is some brat from Inanna is terrorizing Teythea markets looking for you. He’s aided in overthrowing like, five of the market bosses there. Maker knows why he chose Teythea to look for you, but I’ll pay you to make him stop arming the workers.”





	1. inanna

**Author's Note:**

> I did no research. I just said "gravity capacitor" because it sounded like something a space ship would have. SHRUG

Sun beats onto the white stone of the Diplomat School, the planet hot and hazy with late day heat and rays turning things a nice orange. The grasses are in bloom, pollen a little too heavy in the air for anyone to be comfortable. The student is waiting, his classes long having let out and his books abandoned on the hot steps of the building. He’s in his yellow robes, thin and loosely tied at the waist. His shorts are a matching yellow, the thin shirt underneath an even paler yellow and just as thin as the robe.

Sweat beads on his skin despite the light breeze and the thinness of his clothing, the sun burning into his pale skin. His robe is brushing the ground as he paces, drags and catches ever so lightly at the stonework of the stairs he’s waiting on. If his mother was still around, she would scold him for not treating his robe as delicately as it deserves. His gut sours at the thought though, shoves the long flowing sleeves of the robe up his arms as if it will keep them from falling back down.

Eventually, the sun having sank a little lower in the sky, the wind a little stronger and cooling the sweat on his skin, the student turns and stills. The private is bounding up the stairs to him, grin lighting up his tan skin like a second sun.

“You got in?” The student calls, opens his arms and allows the private to slam into his hug, forcing them to stumble backwards until their footing is regained.

“I scored higher than all of my peers,” the private says, arms tight around the student’s waist, head tilted just slightly to look into the other’s eyes.

It’s too expressive for this planet, too suggestive for the environment their home is, but the student and the private don’t care in the darkening evening, at the emptied School, after the pilot tests that insure the bulk of the population will be in the city.

The palace is in the distance, as hulking and threatening as ever, and the student has no hesitance in the hands he has on the private’s face, in the briefest brush of lips and their foreheads pressing together. The private is breathless, his green jumpsuit too thick for the weather but perfect for the sucking coldness of the sky and the emptiness of space.

The smile has fallen though, the private’s fingers stroking lightly over the student’s back.

“I was too good,” he says, face shifting into something closer to fear. “They want me to go to the front.”

The student gapes, tries to take in the news.

“The front?”

“I got in though,” the private whines into the space between their heads, stretching onto his toes to reach the other’s cheek. The kiss is shorter than even the brush of their lips, the student leaning back and away.

They’re still close, arms have fallen back to wrap around the private’s waist, hands are fisted securely into the student’s robe at his shoulders.

“When are they shipping you out?” The student whispers, eyes too wide and arms too tight.

“Please don’t make this bad,” the private pleads, moves his hands so his fingers are at the nape of the student’s neck and thumbs sit on his cheeks. “You know I can make it, you know I’ll always be with you.”

“But,” the student begins, stumbling across his words uncharacteristically out of some toxic mix of fear and worry.

“Stop,” the private says, more firm than before, “I don’t want to go into the war sad, let me have this, please.”

It takes a long, long moment, but the student slumps, allows the private to pull him in and take his breath away.

 

 

►►►

 

 

Yuta is essentially useless planetside, Taeyong thinks. He’s needlessly brutish and cocky and likes to flirt with whoever will look twice at him.

Donghyuck is much more tolerable of a planetside partner, but is as grating as any member of their crew seems to have a tendency of being.

Together though, and Taeyong thinks his head will explode.

Palasides is a mid-core, half-colonized swamp planet. They’re currently planetside trying to find a part to replace the broken gravity capacitor (why Yuta is with him) and also trying to find another job (why Donghyuck is with them). He’s had to smile and talk them out of three fights now, and if Donghyuck laughs at the pinch between his brows one more time, there’s a chance he will be left on Palasides when they leave.

“Boys,” Taeil chides over the comm pieces in their ears, and Taeyong wants to kiss him, thinks about getting him a gift for trying to tame the two crew members with them.

Donghyuck only snickers one last time before wiping the smirk off his face and gestures to a deeper section of the market. Taeyong nods and lets him go, he’s too smart to get into toruble on his own and has the panic button on him if he does get into trouble.

Taeyong is elbow deep in one of the spare parts piles at the front of a ship parts supplier when Yuta decides to make life hard for him again. A dirty arm slings over his shoulder, and Yuta’s face is suddenly entirely too close. It makes Taeyong’s cheeks flare like he’s a child, and he curses himself internally for the reaction.

“Taeyongie,” he coos, helpfully switches the comm on Taeyong’s shoulder off, “stop getting us in trouble with Taeil.”

Rolling his eyes, Taeyong straightens and shakes Yuta off. They are wearing particularly old models of their comms today, with a thin board sewn into the shoulder of their jackets that connects their earpieces to the ship and the ship to them. There’s a push to talk mode, which requires a finger to the ear to be heard, an off mode, and an open mic mode. “Just find a damn capacitor already,” Taeyong mutters.

After another thirty minutes of searching through the cheap sections of all the mechanic stalls, Taeyong is starting to accept they might have to drop some serious money for this part. Serious money he really doesn’t want to part with, but he thinks he’ll go crazy if he has to keep floating off the ground when the capacitor sputters.

Donghyuck’s voice crackles over the comm then, “Hey, boss, think I have something we can do, good pay.”

Taeyong flicks his comm to the push to talk mode and presses his finger to the comm in his ear. “Where are you?”

“Look to your right,” Donghyuck says, and when Taeyong turns he can see in the distance an arm waving to catch his attention.

“Be there in a second,” Taeyong mutters, turns enough to point at Yuta and says, “I’m giving you permission to dip into ship funds to pay for a gravity capacitor. Nothing else.”

Mockingly, Yuta salutes him, and Taeyong starts pushing his way through the marketplace to get to where Donghyuck is standing.

When he reaches the younger’s side, he slides an arm around his waist and eyes the man sat at one of the small tables set up in front of a food stall. He’s skinny and Taeyong can tell he’s been modified, the wiring from his left side just barely peeking out from his shirt. He smiles at Taeyong, gestures to the seat across from him.

“I prefer to stand,” Taeyong sniffs, fingers around Donghyuck’s hip now. The younger man doesn’t squirm or make any movements to put distance between them.

It’s nice to seem united and protective, but Taeyong is also just clingy, and Donghyuck reciprocates more than some of the others on the ship so he isn’t going to pass up an opportunity to have an arm around the youngest of his crew.

“Fine,” the man says, slurps some of the soup he’s ordered from the stall. “I know who you are, Taeyong Lee, and I have a job for you.”

Taeyong tenses and he can feel Donghyuck tense also, feels when the younger’s arm brushes him to rest a hand on the blaster on his hip.

“Relax,” the man waves his arm at them, rolls his eyes. “I’m from Inanna also, just calm down.”

“How do you know me?” Taeyong asks, tries to not let his heart jolt too obviously at the mention of his home planet.

“I just said, I’m from Inanna also. You may have deserted, but you’re as much as a legend as always,” the man shrugs, rests his head on one of his hands. “That doesn’t matter, what matters is some brat from Inanna is terrorizing Teythea markets looking for you. He’s aided in overthrowing like, five of the market bosses there. Maker knows why he chose Teythea to look for you, but I’ll pay you to make him stop arming the workers.”

Breathing loudly out of his nose, Taeyong looks up at the cloth strung over the stall to make a decision.

“I’ll pay you 150 thousand volts,” the man says, and Taeyong’s eyes nearly bug out of his head when he snaps his gaze back down to him.

“150 thousand?” He squeaks a little embarrassingly.

The man shrugs again, “I’m very invested in the Teythea markets.”

Donghyuck elbows Taeyong meaningfully, wiggles his brows at him in what is definitely his signal to accept the offer.

Before Taeyong can accept he needs to know, “how’d you find me?”

“I didn’t, the kid mentioned he was part of a crew with the piloting ace Taeyong and I put two and two together. I know how to jump on what I need when it appears.” The man pushes to his feet, leaving the soup half eaten.

“We accept,” Taeyong says, and the man smiles at him. “Good, I’ll get you the payment once I hear back from my contact in Teythea that the kid is off the streets.”

They exchange Core numbers, and Taeyong and Donghyuck shuffle back to find Yuta haggling with one of the mechanics.

“You deserted, huh?” Donghyuck says as they wait for Yuta to finish.

Taeyong crosses his arms over his chest and shrugs, “War wasn’t for me.”

Donghyuck has his eyes narrowed. “Inanna? You’re Inannian? And a _legendary_ Inannian?”

Yuta chooses then to join them, hefting a brand new and shiny capacitor on his shoulder. “Yeah he is, and he has an Inannian lover that he receives love notes from every few months also.”

Oh, great, Taeyong thinks, feels his face flush a bit again. Feels something vaguely like regret float around his head for confiding that to Yuta, but when he’s not being purposely spiteful, (like now,) he’s unendingly loyal and kind, even if he does push lines he shouldn’t.

“I’ve never been able to read them myself,” Yuta sighs wistfully, hand over his heart, Donghyuck looking _so_ enthralled by this. “It’s all in Inannian, but I just know they’re so romantic.”

He’s wrong, but Taeyong lets him get away with it.

“Shut up,” Taeyong grumbles, leads the way back to the ship. “Donghyuck found us a job that will pay 150 thousand volts.”

“150 _thousand_?” Yuta yelps, nearly topples over if not for Donghyuck reaching out to stabilize him. “Maker...Donghyuck, you continue to save our ship time and time again.”

NCT-127 is docked on the edge of the swamp this market sits on, the legs extended to keep her out of the water. Sicheng is crawling around on top of her, cleaning off some of the gunk from their time in the outer-core they were just getting back from. The ship is a little large for just the six of them, but she’s not gigantic. Taeyong had bought her with Taeil and Yuta, though only Taeil and Yuta’s names are on the owner papers. Taeyong had been in hiding then, couldn’t use his real name and didn’t want to go by his fake name, so his name was just helpfully not included.

They still looked to him though, even if their names were the ones on the papers.

She’s grey and circular, the piloting section raised up higher in the middle. It’s a pretty significantly large space, so there’s multiple chairs in there. Taeyong can see Jaehyun in there. The engines and other essential functions sit directly below the cockpit, and when they shuffle up into the ship Yuta immediately heads down the stairs to the engine room. Donghyuck follows him, probably to gossip, and Taeyong speedwalks to the kitchen. The kitchen is on the opposite side of the circle from the entrance, and the floors are a scuffed up grey that matches the outside of the ship.

As he expected, Taeil is in the kitchen.

He’s sat at one of the tables, and is using a tablet to look over the Core account. The glare he throws at Taeyong is a little too caustic.

“Do you know how much you three spent on that capacitor?” Taeil says, not even meanly, but Taeyong still sits down heavily with guilt. Yuta probably haggled for whatever price Taeil is going to complain about, so he can’t even be too mad.

“We are going to get paid 150 thousand volts to go to Teythea and stop a kid from upsetting the power order in their markets.” Taeyong says instead of answering, and Taeil’s mouth opens and closes a couple of times before he sets the tablet down and nods.

“It’s fine then,” he says slowly, settles back in his chair. “Is there something else you want to tell me?”

Because Taeil is too perceptive and Taeyong chose to sat down, even though he should be in the cockpit or in his room, and not seeking Taeil out.

“The situation is bad in Inanna. I don’t know how bad, but it’s bad. And...” he tilts his head, looks past Taeil blankly.

Taeil doesn’t say anything, probably doesn’t understand the connection.

“The kid is in Teythea and he’s causing a ruckus and asking for me, and he’s apparently from Inanna also,” Taeyong spills, bites at his nails.

“You think this is related to home,” Taeil says, “but why are you thinking so hard about it?”

Because, Taeyong’s head supplies him helpfully, he can’t unshake the feeling this has to do with Doyoung. Because Teythea is, admittedly, a very random planet for someone to be asking for him on. Unless you knew how Taeyong got letters by the censors in Inanna. And Doyoung can’t bother with that, because Taeyong is never in one place often. Doyoung sends letters through the Core and to Taeyong’s fake name. He’s punctual and yet Taeyong hasn’t gotten a letter in half a year.

Taeyong hasn’t been able to make it to Teythea in a long time, hasn’t been able to send a letter back. But, Doyoung should know that. Should know he’s too often all the way across the galaxy and can’t get to the messenger he uses to mail him back. It hasn’t stopped him before, and this is hardly the longest time he’s gone without responding.

And, in the last letter, Doyoung had expressed some nervousness about the new regime in Inanna. He hadn’t been able to actually say it, but Taeyong knows he meant it. Taeyong knows how to pick up what is actually being said to him through vague words that throw the censors off from marking up the letters or blacking out all of it.

“Oh,” Taeil says into Taeyong’s silence, and his lips curve up a little. “I see, you’re worried about that Inannian man you won’t tell us anything about, huh?”

Taeyong purses his lips, annoyed a little by the tone Taeil is taking. “It just might have to do with him, is all.”

Sighing, Taeil stands and claps a hand onto Taeyong’s shoulder as he passes. “Well, we’re all here to help you, even if you never let us in.”

 

 

◀

 

_My star,_

 

_I hope you have been well, I haven’t heard from you in awhile._

_My cushy job at the Health Corps has ceased, I’ve been moved to something bigger. I can only pray for Maker to bless me with good fortune and good luck on this new job. I can’t say much, but I’m sure you will know what I’m saying. Perhaps my education will finally put me off planet! Wouldn’t that be amazing, I’d be something like you then._

_The two boys I took in are doing well. They didn’t take up either field we did, but one of them have followed in our mutual friend’s footsteps. I worry it’s for reasons I will not like, but I can’t stop him. I wish you will meet them someday, maybe when space doesn’t separate us the way it does now. Our mutual friend misses you also, I think he’s getting desperate for contact with people who aren’t me or the kids. I hope you can update me soon, it’s sad when I have to talk to myself like this. Even if I know you are probably getting them and reading them, it makes me nervous that I could be sending these to a dead man._

_Inanna is not the same as when you left. The sun is still too close and too hot, but the steps are no longer white. I do not stand on the steps either, I am across the city now. ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████_

_Anyway, ████████████████████████████████████.._

_I wish I could see your ship. I’m sorry I sound so wistful this letter, ████████████ It’s all fine though, I’m sure you know what I mean. Things are fine. I just find myself wishing I could see your face again, it has been too long. Things are the same in that regard here, as I’m sure you expected! It’s my fault we have been like this. But I’m finally starting to see a change coming. Hopefully. I cannot say for sure what the future holds. Peace be to Inanna and to the Galaxy. I miss you. I miss you._

_This letter will be shorter than my others, I’m sorry. My next should be at the regular length, though, so I hope you will not be sad._

 

 

►

 

 

Jaehyun knocks Taeyong out of the reverie he had been in staring at the letter around night time. None of the rest of the crew can read Inannian, so Taeyong never panics if they might spot the letters on his tablet, or the drafted ones he sometimes has out to give to his messenger. He’s working on one now, since he will be in Teythea and won’t have to go out of his way to get it into the right hands.

“Hey,” Jaehyun says, lingers a little awkwardly at the door.

He’s nervous, so he wants to talk to Taeyong about important stuff. Great.

“Come in,” Taeyong says, shuts his tablet off and closes the notebook he uses to write the letters. Jaehyun steps in and lets the door slide shut behind him, then moves and sinks onto Taeyong’s bed.

“Everything OK?” Taeyong asks, turns his chair to look at Jaehyun on his bed.

“It’s all good for me,” Jaehyun says, and Taeyong doesn’t sense any evasiveness from him about that, so he braces for Jaehyun digging for something from him. “But is it OK for you?”

Taeyong shrugs.

Jaehyun frowns at him. “You can tell me whatever, you know. You could tell all of us.”

Taeyong purses his lips. “Did you talk to Taeil? I’m not really hiding anything from you all.”

“Yes, you are,” Jaehyun says with an eye roll. “We just want to know more about you, you know everything about us. Inanna may be super secretive and shit, but we’re not going to like, betray you and Inanna or whatever.”

“I’m not part of Inanna,” Taeyong says, maybe quicker than he means to.

Jaehyun’s head tilts down and he levels him with possibly the most judging look he can manage. “Then talk to me.”

And, maybe Taeyong is feeling weak because Doyoung has broken from pattern in the first time since he ever even left the planet. Maybe he’s not liking everyone trying to pry things from him and finally growing weak to it. He thinks it’s the first reason, feels unnaturally unsettled because no matter how many times he logs into his fake name’s Core ID he doesn’t have any mail and Inanna has been so closed in recent months he doesn’t even know what’s happening planetside.

Taeyong sighs through his nose, pulls his tablet around to his lap and turns it back on, puts fingers on his screen and thinks for a second. Finally opens the most recent letter.

“’Inanna is not the same as when you left. The sun is still too close and too hot, but the steps are no longer white. I do not stand on the steps either, I am across the city now.’” Taeyong recites first in Inannian, and then repeats it again in common for Jaehyun. “Do you know what that could mean? Inanna is unchanged but changed, and he is no longer on the Diplomat School steps, but across the city.”

Jaehyun frowns at him, looks confused. “I’m not sure I understand...”

“He also said, ‘I’ve been moved to something bigger.’” Taeyong bites one of his nails nervously as he reads the line in his head a few times. “I think he’s been put into the palace, but I don’t understand why. I don’t know what it means. He hasn’t sent me anything in months now. And now this boy is looking for me?”

“You think it’s him?” Jaehyun asks, and that’s a valid assumption if you don’t know Doyoung.

Taeyong shakes his head, “he’s not a kid, but this kid has to know him because the smuggler who takes my letters into Inanna lives in Teythea. Or he was really lucky. I’m not sure.”

Jaehyun hesitates, “So, you’re worried something happened to him.”

Taeyong chews on his nail some more, bounces his knee anxiously.

“Inanna is not a very good place to live,” Taeyong says. “They prefer public humiliation to death sentences, and they humiliate for life.”

“I see,” Jaehyun taps his chin. “But, maybe it’s fine.”

“Yeah,” Taeyong says, turns off his tablet and rubs his face with his hands. “Maybe.”

Inanna has a reputation across the galaxy. Taeyong feels no real allegiance to the planet anymore, only feels for the people he loves and misses and will probably not see again. Inannians aren’t bad, really, maybe. Not Doyoung and Johnny, at least. But, as well intentioned as Inannians can be, the planet is a colonizer planet. That’s why they were in a war, why the other planets had a coalition to fight Inannian planet colonization. Taeyong feels nothing but shame for being part of the fighting force, for being an essential and important part, but he likes to think he’s making up for his sins now.

The planet is secretive, the language not being taught even on the planets they colonized. The Inannian Empire has been mainly dismantled besides a few strongholds in closely linked planets in the inner parts of the Empire. You’re only Inannian if you were born on the home planet to Inannian parents, and both him and Doyoung had been sons of poor families in the inner slums of the city. News only infrequently leaks out, as even Core access is monitored on the planet.

It’s also conservative, and Taeyong shivers when he thinks back to the old, vicious rumors that always went around about him and Doyoung.

They met Johnny when they were both in their respective academies, Johnny introduced to Doyoung as his official bodyguard. The Diplomat School produced the members of Inannian society who would go to other planets and work deals for the government, and they tend to get assigned a bodyguard early so they can develop a working relationship before the real stress begins.

Doyoung had switched paths right before he graduated, a year before Taeyong deserted, had instead gone into the medical field. He worked at some hospital as their representative with the government or something, it was hard to work out from the cryptic letters. Johnny had followed Doyoung to the hospital job, and Taeyong is not quite sure what the job entailed, Doyoung could never say in letters, but he assumed they went to other planets to do medical outreach of some sort. It’s hard to tell.

Taeyong feels so lonely suddenly. He has not seen his lifelong friends in years and years and years and his only form of contact, the vague and quick letters, had stopped.

Jaehyun’s eyes widen in panic when he sees the tears welling in Taeyong’s eyes, and he stands and drags Taeyong into a hug that cracks some of the vertebrae in his back.

“We just want to help you,” Jaehyun murmurs into Taeyong’s hair, fists clenching in Taeyong’s jacket so tight the seams make a noise of protest. Taeyong hasn’t cried in front of Jaehyun yet before, (but has in front of Taeil and Yuta,) and he feels a little embarrassed this is how it’s happening.

Jaehyun awkwardly dumps Taeyong onto his bed and then pats his shoulder. “Hold on, I think Taeil might be better for this.”

Taeyong thinks the opposite, but he’s composed himself now and it’s probably not mentally helpful to watch your captain have a near-breakdown so he lets Jaehyun do what he wants.

Taeil shows up quickly, and Taeyong would be bitter that he had definitely sent Jaehyun in here to pry because Taeyong can’t ever seem to say no to Jaehyun, but he probably needed to let his emotions out now before they went to Teythea and he either had his hopes smashed or solidified.

Taeil curls onto the bed with him, sticks his nose obnoxiously into Taeyong’s neck and wraps an arm around his waist to squeeze him back against him. “Finally cried in front of Jaehyun, huh? Sicheng next?”

“Shut up,” he mutters into his pillow, kind of wants to hit Taeil with it.

“If I had known it was so serious I wouldn’t have been so tough on you,” Taeil says in apology, and Taeyong is lucky he’s getting this much, he knows.

“I just cry easily,” Taeyong says, and Taeil pinches him for it. “Fine, you’re right. I shouldn’t bottle my emotions up and that includes bottling my life in Inanna up so tightly that I burst.”

Taeil pats his stomach helpfully. “I’m glad you’re finally figuring out your emotional lessons.”

“I still don’t want to talk about it now,” Taeyong murmurs, and Taeil sighs.

“It’s okay, just sometime, right?”

“Right.”

 

 

◀◀

 

 

_Doyoung,_

 

_I deserted._

_I’m sorry._

_I love you. I’ll come back for you someday. Send me letters to my fake name. You know, the one I used all those times to get us into clubs. I still have the Core ID login._

_I’m sorry._

 

_TY_


	2. teythea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After they raid the bosses house, he says, “I want Lee Taeyong.”
> 
> The boss had looked confused, to a non-Inannian person, that name probably means nothing, but the crowd shuffled anxiously, too many Inannian refugees to not know who Lee Taeyong is.

Teythea is a mid-core planet that drifts in and out of Inannian influence. It’s more of a temperate planet compared to the near desert conditions on Inanna, but Mark is unlucky enough to land on the planet during the hot season. He doesn’t bother to learn the name of the market he starts in, he doesn’t really need it.

He’s been trained enough to keep his head down for the first few weeks, is careful to watch the dock and count the Inannian soldiers that land. They thin after two weeks. The clock in Mark’s head is slowly counting down, but it’ll all be for nought if he gets caught, so waiting it is.

The first market is large. It’s settled next to a forest, and the stalls are all colored in blues and greens. It doesn’t take him very long to find the person he needs, The Messenger.

(“He doesn’t go by anything else, just ask for The Messenger.”)

He’s dead.

Which sets Mark back in a way he didn’t consider.

He was supposed to be contacting Lee Taeyong, and yet here he is. No way to reach that man without going through Inannian censors. Well, Mark has always been determined and he can’t get back to Inanna now without Taeyong, so.

“Do you know how he died,” Mark asks the fruit stall owner he has been helping out.

She glances around, leans in and whispers in broken Inannian to him, “Smuggler, no good and against the Empire.”

She spits on the floor when she says ‘Empire,’ and Mark snaps his agreement.

Teythea is pretty terrible, Mark decides. At least in Inanna the markets are free. Here, the fruit stand lady has made him hide while the thugs who came and asked for payment for staying there showed up to bully her. He’s a trained assassin, for Maker’s sake. Some low level criminals are nothing to him. He’s here wasting his time in this market trying to figure out how to reach some far flung explorer who is unreachable through Core ID searches and basic messaging.

Somehow. Somehow, one complaining session with the fruit stand lady and the neighboring flower stand man, potato stand couple, and the shoe seller had lead to Mark and the rest of the market taking back their money and their rights.

It’s exhilarating. After they raid the bosses house, he says, “I want Lee Taeyong.”

The boss had looked confused, to a non-Inannian person, that name probably means nothing, but the crowd shuffled anxiously, too many Inannian refugees to not know who Lee Taeyong is.

He does the same thing in the next market, and then the next, and the next, and finally the next. Five of the eight markets on Teythea having lost their boss, Mark knew he had to have caught some attention.

Vaguely, he was scared of the Empire catching wind of his antics and coming to look for him. He’d been too comfortable in the markets and the closer he got to completely revolutionizing Teythea the more his paranoia increased.

Especially since his face and name are  _known_ now on the planet. When he entered the sixth market, everyone knew who he was. It was impossible to be anonymous.

And, three days into his stay in the sixth market, his fears were confirmed.

Technically, Mark was a fugitive of the state. Technically, Mark was a deserter. Technically, they did not want Mark to be a figure against the Empire.

(The way Taeyong was, even if he had no idea of it.)

Markets on Teythea are confusing and noisy and dangerous. Usually, the only kind of enforcement were the stall owners themselves dealing out punishments. They are huge systems of stalls and tents and cloth strung up and little seating areas. One half of the family would spend all day at the stall, and the other half of the family would tend the garden or house. Mark falls in with a small family who allows him to stay with them far out from the market. They aren’t the furthest family out, but they are in a small community fairly far. It’s good for Mark because when Inannian soldiers come into market, he simply stays back at the farm.

After another week, and around three months into his stay on Teythea, he finally gets what he wants.

Rumors spread fast through all the markets in Teythea, and the mill is saying Lee Taeyong has landed in Teythea.

Mark bids his goodbyes, immediately heads to the southernly market that Taeyong’s ship had supposedly landed in.

It only takes him one day to find the ship.

NCT-127, bigger than the measly ships on Teythea. She’s clean and pretty, and Mark just knows she flies like a dream. Just knows Taeyong flies her well.

He watches their movements, tries to figure out which one is the man he wants to see.

He had expected a crew, yes, but he had only been told of three of the members.

Yuta, Taeil, Taeyong. Easy enough to pick the Inannian out of a lineup of three. There are six people on this ship though, and Mark has only seen Taeyong’s old, old flight pictures.

He settles in with a gourd seller, sits with her and she leans into him and whispers to him who the crew of the 127 are.

“They’ve come through here a lot, always looking for that The Messenger man,” she whispers, her white hair curling haphazardly around her face. “Yuta is the mechanic, the one with the purple-brown hair. With him is Donghyuck, he’s new. I don’t really know what he does.”

Donghyuck must sense their eyes on him, because he turns in a circle slowly, eyes scanning all around, before landing on the stall Mark and the old lady are lounging in. He smiles and treks his way over, his hair something like brown-red, and he looks close to Mark’s age.

“How much for a gourd?” Donghyuck asks, voice pitched up and hands already reaching for one of the gourds on the stall.

“Ten volts,” the stall owner says with a smile, leaning forward. No doubt eager to see what the kid will do.

He frowns at her, “ten volts? If I flutter my eyes can we get it lowered?”

She taps her chin, thinks about it for a second. “Maybe if you make it really cute,” she says, with her biggest grin yet plastered on her face.

Mark thinks Donghyuck is about to do it for a second, his eyes widening a bit. Maybe in a community not so close to Inanna that kind of request would probably be seen as easy, but in a community of mainly refugee Inannians, asking for displays of emotions or any kind of acting out like that is sure to drive a hard bargain.

Donghyuck doesn’t do it though, sighs hard and puts a hand to his head. “That’s just too hard for me, I think.”

She laughs when he does, and Mark lets himself relax. No one here has given him up, even if they know him, so he knows the crew doesn’t even know who he is.

“Have you two heard about the guy who keeps overthrowing the market bosses?” Donghyuck asks casually, hands stuck in his jacket pockets.

The gourd seller looks at him and Mark looks back at her, shrugs.

“I’ve heard things,” Mark says, “but we don’t know much here in the south.”

“Yeah,” the old lady continues for him, “he hasn’t made it down this way yet. Was working northwards, I think.”

Donghyuck nods thoughtfully, “Well, if you see him, tell him we’re looking for him and we have Taeyong with us.”

The old lady smiles and waves when he leaves, and then sinks back in her chair.

“Are you going to talk to them?” She asks, and he shrugs.

“I want to see this Taeyong first.”

 

 

►

 

 

After another day, Mark finally gets his look at Taeyong.

He draws the eye, has an aura about him that makes Mark want to stare. He sort of looks like his flight pictures, just older and without the regulation black hair. His hair is white, but with the roots grown in. He looks good, really, even if he seems quite wide-eyed and keyed up.

Mark knows when he splits off from the crew to go to The Messenger. He follows him to the dwelling of that long dead man.

The Messenger had lived in a small shack in between the first market Mark had landed in and the one they were in now. Taeyong definitely notices him following him, it’s hard to not be noticed while walking across fields and dirt roads, but he doesn’t stop.

When they reach the house, empty as Mark had known it would be. He loiters outside while Taeyong searches through the house.

He steps out onto the porch, eyes Mark standing on the lawn.

“Where is he?” He asks, and his voice is pointed and mean.

“Dead,” Mark says, and he sounds dead himself.

“Are you the kid looking for me?” Taeyong snaps, trudges down the steps to stand near Mark. It kind of makes Mark’s day better to know he’s nearly the same height as Taeyong.

Mark smiles at him and bows, switches to Inannian because there’s no point in still speaking in common. “That would be me, Mark Lee.”

Taeyong narrows his eyes at him, and he looks so wound up.

“What are you looking for me for?” Taeyong snaps.

Mark pouts a little, feels hurt that this man is being so harsh.

“I’m Mark Lee, adopted kid of Kim Doyoung, I’ve been looking for you because you’re the only person in the galaxy who could possibly help me get us out of Inanna.”

Taeyong froze the second he heard _Kim Doyoung_ , eyes narrowing somehow even more. “Are you joking?” He asks, as harsh as before.

Barely avoiding gaping at the older man, Mark crosses his arms over his chest. “No, I’m not joking. Doyoung is stuck in Inanna with Jeno and Johnny and I’ve spent three months here trying to get you to come! The stupid Messenger who could have helped me was dead when I arrived, probably killed when Doyoung was discovered to be keeping in contact with you!”

Not even having the courtesy Mark did, Taeyong does gape at him. “They found out we keep in contact? How? What are they doing to him?”

With each question, Taeyong gets closer and closer to Mark, and finally grabs his shoulders with the last question. The frenzied look in his eyes makes Mark wince, and he leans back a little from the older man.

“We don’t know. They didn’t tell us. I think The Messenger was involved somehow. They’ve, uhm,” Mark bites his lip and looks away. “They’ve made him a consort to the new Lord.”

The grip on his shoulders gets impossibly tight, and Mark has to finally push Taeyong off of him.

Only Inannians would know what that means, what it implies, what it is. To be a consort is to be humiliated for life, to be stained for life, no peace for you left on Inanna.

(Mark’s hands fist, hidden behind the gloves he has been wearing since he left Inanna, the distinctive blue stain on his fingers sure to have risen some eyebrows from the Teythea market people.)

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Taeyong says, nearly shakes apart in front of Mark.

Mark is getting frustrated. He’s tired of this, wants to go get his family now.

“I’m Mark Lee, Doyoung found me in the orphan wing of the hospital with Jeno. He was so charmed by us and saddened that we had been left there that he adopted us instead of leave us there. We lived in an apartment just a block away from the third stop of the military train, Johnny also lived with us. We got moved to the palace when the new regime settled in, because Doyoung has a good reputation off-planet and they needed someone to ease the transition.” Mark pauses, looks at his hands. “First, he kept warning locals to Inanna’s real plans, so he got punished by being locked in our room for weeks. Then, they accused him of keeping in contact with noted war criminal Lee Taeyong and of having a romantic relationship with a man. They gave him the consort robes that day, and...”

Mark bites his lip, finally pulls the gloves off.

Taeyong’s eyes nearly pop out of his skull when he sees the stain across Mark’s hands. It’s light, but his fingertips are tinted blue, and the blue tint is heavier on some fingers, but it’s something any Inannian would know on site.

Mark pulls the neck of his turtleneck down also, shows the blue stain there. He got it from pressing into a hug even when Doyoung told him not to. Jeno and him had been determined to be as stained as their parent figure was, Jeno succeeding in getting some of the stain lightly smeared from his cheek to his collarbone, but Doyoung had been so unhappy. So unhappy, it had made Mark hesitate to follow Jeno’s footsteps. Resulted in a stain only from his neck to his collarbone.

The staining material is only strong on repeat exposures, that’s why his fingertips are stained so much worse than the rest of him, and even then it’s still just a tint. Enough of a hint of color to make someone snap their eyes away in shame. The blue on his neck is even fainter, the barest of outlines.

Taeyong rubs his eyes roughly, then pulls Mark in for a hug he never even realized was coming.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry I left and you all have been stuck there,” Taeyong sniffles, arms a little too tight around Mark’s shoulders.

“Um,” Mark says, because he doesn’t know what to say to this man. “It’s better this way, because now you can get us out, right?”

Pulling away, Taeyong wipes his eyes and nods, looks determinedly at the sky and nods again.

“Yes, I’ll get you all out.”

 

 

◀◀

 

 

The palace is suffocating. His assassin schooling is in the palace, and now he lived there also.

It’s not really what he wanted, and the tan brickwork and black carpeting makes him feel like he’s being killed. The carpet is black because there is too much bloodshed in this palace to warrant any other color, the brickwork stained in places where the blood had sat and baked in for too long. Their room is on the third floor, in the personnel wing.

Mark never gets escorted, he’s an assassin and does not need the help of a bodyguard. Jeno doesn’t get escorted either, but that’s because he’s in the bodyguard school and he’s long been under Johnny’s tutelage.

Johnny is always with Doyoung, and when Mark gets back to the room, he finds them both there.

“Mark,” Doyoung says, smiles a smile Mark hasn’t seen in so long, opens his arms from where he is on the couch set up in front of the fireplace.

He’s weak, hasn’t seen Doyoung in a week, has been stuck in this stifling castle, has only seen Jeno in passing because of their schedules, so he immediately dives into the hug. Presses his cheek to Doyoung’s in the way he knows he loves, squeezes his arms tightly around him.

“I missed you,” Doyoung murmurs, moves his head to rub his cheek with Mark’s.

“Me too,” Mark sighs back, closes his eyes and lets himself slump into the older man.

He’s legal now, is two years into one of the trade schools, but he still feels like a kid. Still relies on Doyoung’s guidance and on Doyoung’s advice and on his kindness. Johnny is asleep on the bed behind him, and Mark eyes him for a second before straightening and whispering, “how was the trip?”

They are nervous about their room being bugged, and Doyoung hooks an arm around Mark’s neck and drags him to lay on the couch with him. He gets close and whispers back, “it was good, no one spoke the language besides me so when I told them to not agree and how to choke off the supplies Inanna is funneling to their troops on the planet no one suspected a thing. They just thought they were more hostile than usual.”

Doyoung frowns a bit then, presses his forehead to Mark’s. “I’m worried they will get mad about how low my success rate is now, worried they will find out I’m misleading them.”

Mark sighs, loops an arm around Doyoung’s waist. “We can deal with that then.”

They stay like that for awhile, Doyoung’s breath puffing softly on Mark’s face as the older finally succumbs to sleep like his bodyguard already has. Jeno is due back around evening, and then Mark is to leave early in the morning, as usual.

He doesn’t know when he fell asleep, but he wakes to the creak of the door, the lights flickering on with the motion, Jeno tiptoes across the room to the couch where Doyoung stirs blearily.

Jeno is nothing but a bull in a china shop, so he doesn’t hesitate to flop right onto the both of them, Mark’s breath gusting out of him and Doyoung grunting loud enough to finally rouse some shuffling from the bed.

He has an arm around Doyoung and the other around Mark, his weight forces Mark onto his back, and he nearly topples right off the couch, but Jeno shifts around so he’s lying flat on Mark and Doyoung is squished again the back of the couch on his side. This is uncomfortable, Jeno’s cheek smushed against Mark’s and his heavy frame settled entirely on him, but Doyoung looks happy and leans forward to press a kiss to Jeno’s forehead, so Mark just wraps his arms around the younger’s waist to keep him steady.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Jeno smiles, and Doyoung runs a hand through his hair and matches his smile.

 

They put Doyoung into house arrest (more like room arrest,) the day after, while Mark is there. Out of the four of them, Mark is no doubt the most dangerous. He’s only a few months off from his graduation date and he’s trained to be much more lethal than the two body guards he spends most of his time with.

For all intents and purposes, Mark is considered a tool of the state. He goes to the government sanctioned trade school, even if it’s one of the three secretive trade schools on Inanna that result in the fewest graduates, and the school funnels directly into government work. He’s supposed to be an assassin for the state, but he never intends to do what they want. He specialized because he knew that was the best chance he had to get them off the planet. He knew he would need to do something more, do something that let him right into the door of the information he needed.

It’s relatively easy to break into the palace records, floor plans, and state agendas once he enters his second year. Since then, he’s been planning. Doyoung had been in their good graces, so he had been basing all of his plans on sneaking himself and Jeno with them off planet.

When the soldiers come, they point guns at him and Jeno and Johnny, and lock a sensor to Doyoung’s ankle.

They say, for betraying and misguiding the state, and then leave. Johnny seethes, tries to remove the ankle sensor and receives a shock that makes him jolt so bad he stops trying.

Mark doesn’t move from the seat he had sat down in when they pointed the guns at him. He has to rethink his plans now. It can’t be too hard to hack into the anklet, but now he needs to consider how to get them out of the palace.

He’s with one of his mentors when Jeno calls him in a panic, says, “Mark, you have to get back to the palace, it’s bad.”

Of course the cowards in the new regime would wait until Mark is out to do anything serious, would wait until Mark is occupied to do anything. He’s learned to not overestimate himself, but with Jeno and Johnny with him, he thinks they could put up a good fight.

When he makes it make to the palace, the guards regard him coldly, eyes following him as he stomps his way up the third floor. Can already hear the silence of the hallway that clues him in to how bad it is. Some of the doors open when he passes, and he can see the pity in their eyes, he glares when he makes eye contact.

Doyoung is in one of the single chairs when Mark opens the door. Johnny isn’t in the room. Jeno is on the couch, shoulders slumped. Doyoung’s chair is the one that faces the door.

The see through pink of the robe makes Mark’s blood chill. It’s cut specifically to show chest, the robe opening wide and synched at the waist. There’s blue residue from the bottom of the robe opening, around Doyoung’s navel, and all the way up. Mark can see where the stain had been applied, it had covered his chest and been put onto his neck and face. The door shuts behind Mark, snaps him out of his daze.

They did this because it’s a punishment. Doyoung is going to have to sit with the rest of the regimes consorts and be shamed. He is being punished for not conforming, that much is evident. Everyone knows why men are put into the consort robes and painted blue. Mark knows the full name of the last man to have been put through it, before he had tossed himself out of a palace window.

It takes all the strength in him to walk towards his adopted parent. To will his legs to stop shaking. The stain has been washed off already, Mark spots the blue on Jeno’s fingers that tells him he helped. He just can’t help it, when he gets to Doyoung he crumbles and sinks to his knees, buries his face into the bunched up fabric of the flimsy pink robe and the white flowing shorts underneath covering Doyoung’s thighs, cries like he hasn’t in years.

Doyoung’s fingers curl into his hair, he tries to shush him, but eventually just hums quietly and waits for Mark to calm himself down.

Later, when they’re curled into bed, Mark says, “if anyone touches you, tell me,” and he’s never really had an urge to kill, but he knows he would kill anyone who touches the older man.

“Mark,” Doyoung says in the voice he always uses when he disapproves of him, and Jeno lifts himself onto his elbow and presses a hand to Doyoung’s mouth.

“If anyone touches you and you don’t tell him, I will. Or Johnny will. You don’t have to suffer anymore than they are already forcing you to.”

Doyoung sighs, goes limp and nods. Lets the kids press their heads together.

Johnny fights with the soldiers to get them to allow him and Jeno to put the stain on Doyoung. They finally agree since Johnny and Jeno don’t care about getting the stain on themselves, and they’re all hesitant to even touch Doyoung. It’s so annoying, and Mark always makes sure to look his most intimidating when the soldiers come by with the stain to begin the day.

Jeno wears the stains he accumulates proudly, stares back at anyone who looks at the imprint that crawls up his cheek. Mark does also, never wears his gloves in Inanna and wears his lowest cut shirts to make sure the stain on his neck is visible. Johnny doesn’t get as stained, his fingers lightly dusted, but nothing compared to the two kids.

Normally, Mark doesn’t attend any of the regime functions. It’s just rich people who support the new power socializing and posturing, but now that Doyoung is forced to go, Johnny and Jeno go also. The first month sees him lurking around the consort section of the room, snarling like an animal at anyone who approaches any of the consorts. They’re all women besides Doyoung, but they are all there because they’re being shamed, and all of them have the stain on them.

The stain is applied thickly over the skin and left to sit until the end of the day. Doyoung’s crime is, as Jeno tells Mark, a love crime, so they have a red line streaking down Doyoung’s chest. Some of the other consorts have a similar line in red, and it makes Mark’s heart hurt.

Mark is known around the palace. He’s the only student expected to graduate from the assassin school this round, and his presence at the functions unnerves the upperclass milling about.

He’s told to leave during the second month, and he salutes the consorts and says, “if anyone gives you a problem, I’m always happy to help you.”

Doyoung smiles at him, and Mark lets the soldiers lead him out into the palace proper.

They didn’t realize the opening this would give him though, because now he has plenty of time to craft his escape plans. He tells Jeno them in the evenings while Doyoung is washing the stain off. It’s slowly, slowly seeping more and more into his skin, but Johnny helps him do as much as he can to keep the stain from staying, asks around to find what people have said would help.

Taeyong is a mythical figure to Mark.

Doyoung looks happy whenever he tells them about him, about how they used to sneak around, about how they supported each other, when he lets them read the letters Taeyong gets through to Doyoung.

All of these things should make Taeyong seem more solid and real to him, but they don’t. It seems impossible that a man would make it out of the army, that a man could still be getting things into Inanna. He sometimes wonders if it’s some elaborate prank being pulled on them. If Doyoung has crafted some imaginary figure to get him through losing his friend or something.

He looks for the records on him, doesn’t find much. The regime can’t seem to find him, the same as any other regime. It’s fine, he lifts the picture from it to give to Doyoung. He doesn’t have any pictures of the other man because they had confiscated all of them back when Taeyong first deserted, and he figures this is enough to give Doyoung something to be happy about.

Three months in, Mark has his plan ready. He follows Johnny and Doyoung into the wash room when they come back for the day, ignores the look Johnny gives him.

When Doyoung is soaking in the tub that’s embedded into the floor, water steaming in the room and Johnny puttering with the herbal things some old lady on the edge of the city said would wash the stain off, Mark crouches next to the tub and says, “I’m leaving tonight.”

“What?” Doyoung says sharply, sitting up straight and coming over to the side of the tub he’s on. He grabs Mark’s hands, and Mark smiles at him.

“Calm down,” Mark soothes, squeezes his hands. Johnny crouches next to him, raises his eyebrows at him. “I have a plan, I can get all of us off the planet. I just need you two to trust me. Jeno already knows all of it.”

“You won’t tell us?” Johnny asks, Doyoung narrowing his eyes at Mark.

“It’s easier that way, there isn’t one single plan. Jeno knows everything that needs to be done.” And also, Mark doesn’t want to risk them telling him his plan won’t work. He is going to get it to work, no matter what, and he needs to do it now. He can’t sit and watch Doyoung wither away anymore.

“Fine,” Doyoung says eventually, ignores the shocked look Johnny gives him, “can you wait until I’m asleep?”

Mark nods, smiles when Doyoung kisses his hand. “Just don’t forget about us,” Doyoung murmurs, and Mark shakes his head, leaves into the main room.

 

 

►

 

 

The crew of the NCT-127 is...eccentric, Mark decides. When he enters the kitchen area with Taeyong, Donghyuck immediately stands and points at him and shouts, “You’re the kid!?”

Mark smiles a little awkwardly and shrugs, and Donghyuck gets yanked back down by the man he remembers as Yuta.

Taeyong claps a hand on his back and points around the table they’re all sitting at and names the people there. Taeil, Sicheng, Donghyuck, Yuta, and Jaehyun. They all dutifully say, “Hi, Mark,” when Taeyong prompts, and then Taeyong gestures for him to sit.

He has his gloves on, his turtleneck covering his neck, and it’s making him itch. He can tell they think it’s weird he’s so bundled up, suspicious of his oddities.

“Why’d you want Taeyong?” The man with orange-yellow hair, Taeil, asks. They’re all eating, it having fallen dark sometime around when they had begun the walk back into the market. Mark doesn’t touch his food. Feels a little too wound up and queasy to eat.

Mark purses his lips, looks at Taeyong for a second and receives a shrug. Fine. He will tell the story then. “I need his help getting my family out of Inanna.”

He doesn’t say anymore because he isn’t sure how much they know, and the silence goes on a little awkwardly. “Are all Inannian’s this vague? I’m seeing some similarities between the two of you,” the black haired man named Jaehyun says.

Yuta and Donghyuck laugh, and Donghyuck leans his elbows onto to the table and eyes Mark. “Why was Taeyong the one you searched out?”

“Because he’s the only man to have escaped the army,” Mark says plainly. “Also, he’s my adopted father’s partner.”

Taeil chokes on his drink then, and Yuta starts laughing again. Donghyuck is smiling so hard he looks like his face is going to break. The one named Sicheng with half blonde half pink hair is similarly smiling, making faces at Jaehyun. Taeyong flushes, stares at the table and ignores the commotion around him.

Later, Taeil leads him to one of the empty rooms in the ship, smiles at him and pats his shoulder when he enters.

Mark finds a tablet in there and checks the date. It’s close to the Festival of the Fall in Inanna, but too far from it for Mark to feel comfortable waiting. It would be best if they could time their rescue plan during something big, get the soldiers and guards distracted, but Mark just can’t wait. He’s waited long enough. He wants to go get them now.

He writes out the schedule from memory, there’s a spate of little social events happening in a few days, and Mark thinks it should work. The consorts leave early in regime events, and it gives them a good two hour window to get them out and unseen.

Mark has the palace mapped in his memory as well, knows how to get from their room to the servants elevator, and then down into the bowels of the palace. From there, all they need to do is get through the city and into the forest. Inanna has one main city, but on the other side of the planet you can move around much easier. The atmosphere isn’t technically closed, but Mark thinks he will need to coach one of the crew of the 127 to speak some Inannian. They can get in if they have an Inannian speaker and it’s unfortunately not smart for him or Taeyong to speak.

Barring all other issues, they should land on the other side of the planet, send someone out to alert Jeno, and then wait.

Doesn’t seem too hard, Mark thinks.


	3. 127

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You guys are saying this like it’s normal,” Jaehyun squeaks.
> 
> “It is, on Inanna,” Mark chirps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this whole thing finished because I wrote it during a manic episode. Last chapter incoming later today probably.

“I just think this plan is a little risky,” Taeyong says slowly, speaking from the main pilot seat as they lift off, Jaehyun sat next to him and Mark strapped into the seat behind them.

“It’s not that risky,” Mark argues. “We just need to teach one of them some Inannian and they will be fine. Jeno speaks common so it won’t be an issue once they get to him.”

They’re talking to each other in Inannian, which is probably annoying for the rest of the crew, but Mark isn’t used to speaking more in common, and his accent is a little too strong for him to feel completely confident in the other language.

“I think you’re overestimating how easy Inannian is,” Taeyong mutters, and Mark makes a face at his back that Jaehyun’s lips curve up at.

Mark switches to common to speak to Jaehyun. “Repeat this after me,” and he switches to Inannian, “Ship NCT-127 requesting to land.”

Jaehyun licks his lips first, and then tries to repeat what was said. It’s not that far off, Mark is pretty impressed, actually. This might go faster than he expected.

“That was fine,” Mark says in common, and Taeyong’s seat shakes a little from how he jolts around in protest.

“That was not! He didn’t sound anything like how you did!”

“Hey!” Jaehyun exclaims, offended. “He seemed to buy it!”

“Only because he’s trying to prove a point!” Taeyong says, and Jaehyun pouts at him.

“I think you did great, Jaehyun,” Mark says, gives him a thumbs up. Jaehyun laughs and returns a thumbs up his way also.

“If they just practice it will be fine,” Mark says in Inannian, and Taeyong doesn’t even bother to reply, just grunts.

Jaehyun leans back in his seat and stares out into the space they’re rapidly approaching. “Tell us some more about yourself,” Jaehyun says, throws a glance back at Mark.

The others are spread out around the ship, Yuta and Sicheng in the engine room, Taeil and Donghyuck somewhere in between there and the cockpit level.

“Like what,” Mark intones, using a tablet to draw the palace to the best of his memory, sketching out paths and hallways they need to know.

“How old are you?” Jaehyun asks, starts flipping switches on the little dash between him and Taeyong as they start to level out in space.

“I’m 20,” Mark says, “how about you?”

“Oh, nice, I’m 23,” Jaehyun gestures to Taeyong to continue the sharing.

“I’m 29,” he says flatly, and Jaehyun has to stifle his laugh by biting his lip. Mark snorts from behind him.

“What do you, like, do?” Jaehyun continues his game of twenty questions, turning back around to look at Mark.

“I’m an assassin,” Mark says, looks up when the silence continues a little too long to see both of them turned to stare at him. “What?”

“An assassin?” Jaehyun near shouts at the same time Taeyong demands in Inannian: “You went to the assassin school?”

“Um,” Mark stalls, eyes darting between them. “Maybe this is different in Inanna then for the rest of the galaxy?”

Taeyong rolls his eyes, turns to sit in his seat properly again. “Inanna just normalizes it,” he says in common, “Does that mean Jeno is the bodyguard?”

Mark perks up at the mention of Jeno. “Yes! And he’s really good. If they didn’t force us to follow the normal schedule he would have already graduated. He’s better than the round of graduates this year.”

“Wait,” Jaehyun says, “I think I need to go back, you’re an assassin?”

“I didn’t graduate. So not really, I guess. But I was supposed to graduate.”

“You have an assassin school?” Jaehyun nearly shouts again, and Taeyong makes a shushing sound.

“Inanna has a really militarized culture,” Taeyong says, “the assassin school is super secret and specialized, you have to know someone to get in and usually only one person graduates from it each year.”

“You guys are saying this like it’s normal,” Jaehyun squeaks.

“It is, on Inanna,” Mark chirps.

Donghyuck stomps up the stairs to the cockpit then, throws himself into the chair next to Mark and leans to look at his drawing. “What’s Jaehyun yelling about up here?”

“Mark’s a trained assassin!” Jaehyun whisper-yells, and Donghyuck jerks back into his seat.

“He’s a what?”

Taeyong huffs, sounds very annoyed and put upon from his own seat. “Inanna is a galactic super empire. Mark was in the assassin school but dropped out. He’s an assassin, but really all it means is he’s good at all the things assassins are good at.”

“Like killing?” Donghyuck whispers, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Mark.

Mark sticks his tongue out. “I haven’t killed anyone.”

“Do we believe him?” Donghyuck directs the question to Jaehyun, keeping an eye on Mark the whole time.

Jaehyun taps his chin thoughtfully. “I think so. None of those market bosses were found dead. I probably wouldn’t have felt bad about killing them.”

“Hey,” Mark says, looks at Donghyuck. “Try and say this,” and then switches to Inannian and says the same thing he told Jaehyun to try before.

Donghyuck repeats it immediately. He’s about the same as Jaehyun, but the sounds come a little more naturally for him than Jaehyun.

“That was good,” Mark says immediately, and Jaehyun nods from his seat.

“It wasn’t!” Taeyong protests again. “It was better than Jaehyun but any Inannian will know he’s not a native speaker.”

“That’s why we have to practice it!” Mark exclaims, waves his arms a little.

Donghyuck laughs, points at the tablet Mark is still gripping. “What’s that?”

Mark zooms out a little and turns it more so Donghyuck can see. “This is the palace, I’m drawing the maps so whoever goes in to find Jeno can find their way around without talking to anyone.”

“He really is an assassin,” Donghyuck mock whispers to Jaehyun again, and Mark laughs.

Taeyong interrupts them, but speaks in Inannian. “Who do you think should go into the palace? What do they need to do?”

“Whoever is the most convincingly Inannian should go,” Mark says back, looks at the maps he’s sketched so far. “They just need to go up to our room and wait, Jeno will either already be there or will be coming back. It’s the safest place to head to.”

Taeyong hums from his seat (sounds disturbingly like Doyoung,) and turns to Donghyuck. “I think you should be the one who goes into the palace.”

Donghyuck looks surprised, points at himself and looks around him like Taeyong could be talking to someone else.

“Why me?”

“You don’t have as much of an accent when you say Inannian words. Also you’re good at talking anyway,” Taeyong shrugs. “You’re good at improvising, also.”

Donghyuck smiles, puckers his lips and makes obnoxious kissy noises. “Thank you for the compliments.”

“I think we should start practicing the Inannian now,” Mark says, turns his chair to be facing Donghyuck’s. “It’s not that hard, you’ll do fine.”

 

 

►

 

 

Taeyong knocks on Mark’s door the night before they’re set to try and land on Inanna.

Mark is already curled onto his bed (misses the warmth of Doyoung and Jeno in bed with him, but he’s good at compartmentalizing and doesn’t let himself dwell on it,) and just yells, “Come in!”

Taeyong looks nervous when he steps in, and Mark thinks he will never get over how real Taeyong is. He’s not the same as the photo he had seen, his face thinner and the baby fat on his cheeks long since aged off, but he still seems like he shouldn’t be tangible. The white in his hair makes him so striking, and it makes Mark feel so excited for when Doyoung finally sees him again.

Shaking off the hero worship, Mark can take in the slight shake of Taeyong’s hands, the way he’s moving his weight from one leg to the other.

“Everything OK?” Mark asks, still sprawled out on his bed.

Taeyong steps over to the bed and sits down heavily, sits at around where Mark’s knees are, back to him.

“Can you tell me more about Doyoung? I feel...” Taeyong rubs his face with his hands roughly. “I just...do I even know him anymore?”

This annoys Mark. He hasn’t sat around and watched Doyoung moon over this long gone man and watched him center so much around Taeyong this, Taeyong that, to listen to the man in question feel doubt about it all.

“He adores you,” Mark says, feels tiredness come over him. “What is there to doubt? You’ve changed and so has he but there has to be something there to have kept you two so obsessed with each other.”

(Mark thinks rather meanly that Doyoung already has another man who wants him if Taeyong wants to give him up like this, he’s spent too many years of his life watching the awkward dance Doyoung and Johnny do to have missed the meaning of it all.)

“Yeah,” Taeyong says, runs fingers through his hair. “You’re right. I think...I’m just nervous to see him. You know? My brain is trying to mess everything up.”

Mark sits up to pat his shoulder comfortingly. “He loves you still, and I assume you still love him.”

Taeyong nods, leans into the hand more than Mark expected. Maybe he should have assumed Taeyong would be like this, had heard plenty of stories from Doyoung of Taeyong being too clingy and touchy for Inanna, but it makes his hand still awkwardly. The older man doesn’t pick it up, but Mark has to breath slowly to relax himself.

“He talks about you to us a lot, shows us your letters and tells us stories about what you two have been through,” Mark continues slowly. “You make him happier than anything else we have tried. I stole the photo off your file when I was getting the maps and schedules of the palace. I’ve never seen him as happy as when he finally had a picture of you he could keep.”

Taeyong smiles at the floor. Laughs a little and shakes his head. “Sometimes we would be off the Core, so far in the rim that our logins wouldn’t register for months at a time. I would always come back to the mid-core and login and have letters from him. It was the thing I always looked forward to. No one else has ever caught my eye like him, I think about him all the time.”

This is touching and all, but Mark is kind of grossed out. He doesn’t really want to talk about his father figure like this. He flops back onto his bed and waves a hand annoyingly. “Gross, that’s my dad you’re talking about.”

Taeyong laughs, louder than Mark has heard him laugh in the past few days, and it echoes in the room. “Wow, that’s right. He has two sons, huh?”

“Me and Jeno,” Mark supplies helpfully.

“Hmm,” Taeyong mumbles, ruffles Mark’s hair thoughtfully.

Nothing happens though, Taeyong stands and waves at Mark, takes his leave for the night.

 

 

►

 

“You’re so rude,” Donghyuck snaps. “Did you know that?”

Mark rolls his eyes. “I’m helping you,” he insists. “This is how we learn it at the school.”

Donghyuck waves his arms around in annoyance, “I’m not in assassin school!”

Huffing a breath, Mark rubs his forehead and tries to approach the problem differently.

“OK, lets try this,” Mark says, turns the tablet off and closes his eyes. “You step into the side entrance of the palace. Where do you go from there?”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes up to the ceiling and thinks. “I go up the staircase to my left.”

Mark smiles, “yes. Then what.”

“On the second floor I walk until the first hallway opens on my right. I take it and then when the second hallway on the left opens I find the stairwell there and go up. The room I need will be the first one on my left.”

Mark frowns this time, “where in the hallway will the second stairwell be?”

Donghyuck groans, rubs his temples. “I don’t know. On the right side halfway down?”

“Hmm...” Mark thinks for a second. “Close enough. You pretty much know your way there. It shouldn’t be a problem getting out if Jeno helps you.”

Donghyuck had gotten them on planet, his Inannian good enough to allow them to land. His hair was close enough to regulation that he should just look like a rebellious kid. Mark had also taught him some basic Inannian to get him out of conversations quickly, just in case.

They were up early, earlier than the rest of the ship, because Donghyuck needed to leave early. He had one of the fancy ear comms that Sicheng had, the mic picking up just what Donghyuck said and nothing else, just from sitting inside his ear. It wasn’t visible either, small enough to be discrete. Mark had been intrigued, but forced himself to think about it later.

Pulling out some of the yellow robes he had stuffed in his bag, Mark tossed them to Donghyuck. “Pick the one that fits you best, please.”

He digs a little more and finds the simple white button-up and black trousers he was looking for. It would make Donghyuck look like a student in the city, and a palace servant in the palace. The perfect disguise. It’s good that they were similarly sized, the pants and shirt had been Mark’s first, and the robes were just his old student ones.

“Oh,” Mark says when he turns around, frowning at how Donghyuck was wearing the robe. “That’s not how you wear that.”

He had the ends closed over each other, and the shoulders were bunched in a way that said the robe wouldn’t fit him.

“I grew up in the woods,” Donghyuck mutters, pulls the robe off and gestures for Mark to turn around when he takes the other clothes. “Not all of us know these fancy things Inanna does.”

When Donghyuck finishes dressing, Mark helps him into one of the robes. This one fits him better, the lines on the shoulders sitting close to where they should and the length hitting the ground the way it should in the back. He barely overlaps the two sides right in the middle, ties a loose knot there.

He steps back and lets his eyes take in Donghyuck. Besides his hair, (lighter than nearly all Inannian’s would dare,) he could pass as a student easily.

“Looks good?” Donghyuck asks with a wink, widens his arms a little to gesture at himself.

With a roll of his eyes, Mark laughs and squeezes Donghyuck’s shoulder. “Looks perfect.”

Donghyuck bites his lip and glances at the floor, and Mark’s lizard brain reads it first as shyness, but then he realizes it’s probably nerves about what he’s about to do. Taking a hesitant step back, Mark smiles at him. “You’ll do great.”

“You’re really trusting me with a lot,” Donghyuck says, takes steps to the cargo door.

Mark just shrugs, doesn’t know what to say. He’s pretty desperate to get them out of Inanna.

“Just tell me if you get lost, I’ll be listening.” Mark says, freezes a second before pulling Donghyuck into a hug. “Peace be to Inanna and the Galaxy,” he says in Inannian on impulse, sees the confused crease in Donghyuck’s brows but just smiles at him again.


	4. inanna reprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse when Mark leaves.
> 
> First, Doyoung cries the morning after, keeps crying his stain off and making the soldiers unhappy.
> 
> Second, their real line of protection disappears with Mark. Jeno and Johnny are only so scary to the soldiers, maybe intimidating to come up against them when alone, but with a couple of other soldiers? Laughable.
> 
> Third, Doyoung loses hope faster than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain: please write a good ending. please just once.  
> the other part of my brain: hm....no
> 
> anyway I'm writing a part 2. thoughts on things you all would want to see? there's some things i havent tied up here i already have in mind :P

Things get worse when Mark leaves.

First, Doyoung cries the morning after, keeps crying his stain off and making the soldiers unhappy.

Second, their real line of protection disappears with Mark. Jeno and Johnny are only so scary to the soldiers, maybe intimidating to come up against them when alone, but with a couple of other soldiers? Laughable.

Third, Doyoung loses hope faster than before.

It had been fine, when all three of them were together. Not ideal, but Mark was there to posture for them and scare the soldiers off from them. The threat of the assassin with them lengthened their shadow, made the regime hesitate.

Without him, people aren’t scared to open their mouth to them, aren’t scared to throw their judging eyes at them. The pressure increases tenfold in ways Jeno didn’t expect. He’s not put off, keeps anyone from touching Doyoung, isn’t ashamed of the hint of stain on his cheek.

But, Doyoung is sad. He’s quieter, spends more time in bed. Starts loosing weight. Jeno tries to help, but he knows sometimes it’s hard for Doyoung to look at him and see the stain and be reminded of where they are.

He misses Mark. Misses when he had someone to tell him what to do.

There’s tension with Johnny, also. He often hears Doyoung argue with him in the washroom before they head to bed. It makes his head hurt. Feels like some stupid kid who cries when his parents argue.

He knows why they’re arguing tonight, it’s the same argument they always have. The one about if Taeyong is really enough for Doyoung. Sometimes, Jeno hates that man, Taeyong, so much. Knows that, somehow, everyone in this stupid little family are pinning their hopes on this man who disappeared nearly a decade ago. He hates it. Hates that there are nights Johnny sleeps on the couch because he doesn’t want to try and be intrusive. Hates how he has two dads, practically, but one doesn’t even consider himself part of the family.

“Doyoung,” Johnny’s voice is quiet through the door, quiet, but Jeno can hear the way he lingers on it.

“Don’t start,” Doyoung snaps, louder and easy to hear. Jeno wishes it wasn’t about to be one of those nights.

His adopted father rarely ever uses that tone with anyone else. Once, Mark had gotten it. When they were in the old apartment and Mark had snuck out, came back smelling a little too strong of alcohol. Jeno was a snitch back then, wrinkled his nose when Mark crashed onto the bed they shared. That night was the first night either of them had ever been truly scolded by Doyoung.

They are quiet in the washroom for a bit after Doyoung stops Johnny, but then they start up again. Johnny hisses, “Mark is out there looking for him and we’re stuck here. We don’t even know if he’s alive, or if he really cares anymore.”

There’s a clatter on the tile, Jeno doesn’t know what it could be, and Doyoung’s voice is sharper than he’s ever used on the two kids when he says, “shut up. Just shut up. You think I don’t worry about that everyday now? That on top of the punishment, I have to look at my kids and worry about where I’ve lead them? If you think you’re so much better, then take Jeno and leave. Then I could just end my suffering without guilt.”

That’s a bit much for Jeno. He crawls into the bed and pulls the blankets over his head, pulls a pillow under with him and uses it to cover his ears. Jeno had spilled Mark’s plan, because Doyoung had cried so much and had been so sad that he had to do something. It helped, until Johnny got wind of it, and it has been a problem since. He feels tired. Wants so badly to get them back to what they were before. Back before they had to move into the palace. The easy simplicity of coexisting then.

Later, Doyoung manages to yank the covers enough to get under with Jeno, presses close to him and sighs.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, pulls the pillow so they can both rest their head on it.

Jeno doesn’t really know what to say. Doesn’t know how to tell Doyoung that he would follow him anywhere, but he’s sad that Johnny and him clash so bad now. That sometimes he agrees more with Johnny, doesn't always see the hope Doyoung does in this connection with the deserter who left so long ago.

 

 

►

 

 

This is just the tension of the situation getting to him. He knows, rationally. In any other time, he wouldn’t be so wound up. Wouldn't pace the halls like a dog. They’re in the seventh month of no Mark when his obsessive hall walking pays off.

Jeno knows he’s distinctive. The stain on his cheek catches eyes. He can’t blend into the crowd.

They don’t like having him at their little socializing events. He’s a stain himself. So, he wanders the halls instead. Trusts Johnny to keep people in line. He feels like Mark, getting kicked out of events and doing nothing instead. Well, Mark didn’t do nothing, but Jeno is not some spy who can break into the locked rooms of the palace and get back out.

So, of course he’s pacing the second floor when he spots the flash of robes. Yellow, so either servant or student. No student should be in the palace, and the servants should all be at the gathering on the bottom floor. Interesting.

He follows, watches the figure walk quickly through the halls. When he makes for the staircase up to the third floor, Jeno begins to really get suspicious. They are on the personnel wing, and the third floor is made up of the non-essential palace staff. A servant wouldn’t be up there.

When he follows up the stairs, one hand on his blaster, he gets to the top floor and comes face to face with a guy about his age, with hair closer to red than brown. He’s a little too shocked at the hair to process anything else, but when his eyes lower to the outfit he immediately recognizes Mark’s clothes. Things click then. He doesn’t even bother listening to the stuttered and mispronounced Inannian, just shoves the other guy into their room.

“Shh,” Jeno says, when the guy starts trying to hit him to get him off. “Mark sent you?” He asks, it comes out more breathless than he intends, the common trips off his tongue a little badly, his accent embarrassingly thick. Everyone was better at common than he was.

The redhead stills in his grip, nods. Jeno tilts his head, exposes his cheek to the light a little better.

Jeno knows he looks charming when he smiles, lets this guy see his eye smile. “I’m Jeno.”

“I’m Donghyuck,” the other guy says, relaxes fully under Jeno’s hands on his biceps. “I’m supposed to be the signal that you can leave soon.”

Jeno smiles for real now, feels the way his cheeks are starting to hurt. He hugs Donghyuck impulsively, ignores the little squawk of alarm from the other man. “We’ll leave tonight. Can you tell Mark from here? I want us to leave tonight. We’ll go with you tonight back to the ship.”

“Uhh,” Donghyuck says, leaning a little away from Jeno. “Mark, are you there?” He asks it to the open air, and Jeno doesn’t really know where he’s talking to.

“Yeah, I found him,” Donghyuck mutters, eyes Jeno a little. “He wants to leave tonight.”

Donghyuck tilts his head, bites his lip and darts his eyes around the room.

Jeno steps closer to him again and says, “tell him we can do it, the soldier presence isn’t that heavy, we can get out tonight.”

After repeating what Jeno said, Donghyuck frowns and starts pacing. “Mark says that it’s too reckless. The parties will be starting in a couple of days, it’d be better then.”

Jeno rolls his eyes, sits on the bed. “That’s stupid. He can say that because he’s not here. We need to leave now. Tell him to trust me.”

“He says to trust him,” Donghyuck mutters, presses his knuckles to his temples.

Donghyuck opens his mouth to saying something again, but Jeno interrupts him. “We are leaving tonight and that’s final. Mark isn’t here to stop us. Either you stick with us now, or I show you the way back out of the palace. I know where he’s docked already. I don’t need your help or his.”

There’s an extended silence then, and Donghyuck sighs heavily, mutters something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like _it must run in the family_ , and then sits on one of the chairs that face the bed. “Fine,” he says. “I’ll stay here and leave tonight with you all.”

Jeno smiles at him, then flops onto his back on the bed.

Two hours later, and Jeno and Donghyuck have hit it off quite well.

“What’s Taeyong like?” Jeno whispers, still feels like he shouldn’t say the name too loud.

“He’s fun,” Donghyuck replies, they’re sitting on the floor in front of the couch, shoulders pressed together. They’re just waiting, waiting for Johnny and Doyoung to show up. “I’m sure you’ll like him. Mark seems to hit it off well with him.”

“Mark’s a bad judge of character,” Jeno sniffs. “He’s too enamored with the idea of someone he can model himself after to be objective.”

“Wow,” Donghyuck says, taps his nails on the table. “You really know how to go in.”

Jeno just smiles at him, shrugs.

The door clicks open then, and Doyoung steps in. Johnny is right behind him, and his hand immediately goes for his blaster. Jeno jumps up and waves his hands, then puts his finger to his lips to signal them to be quiet.

Once the door is closed, Doyoung looks to Jeno with his eyebrows raised. Johnny is still lingering behind him, eyes narrowed in on the clothing Donghyuck is wearing.

“This is Donghyuck,” Jeno starts in common, pauses to let him wave in greeting. “Mark sent him. We’re leaving tonight.”

Doyoung’s face brightens immediately, even behind the blue stain still on his skin. Johnny looks skeptical though, gestures for Jeno to come over to them.

When the three of them step into the washroom, Johnny whispers in Inannian, “can we really trust him?”

“Yes,” Jeno hisses, turns the tap so Doyoung can start soaking soon. “Trust me, please.”

Johnny sighs, passes one of the washclothes to Jeno, sets to work on taking off the easiest to remove stain. Doyoung closes his eyes, lets it happen.

“Don’t be so sour,” Doyoung says lightly, pinches Johnny’s arm. “If Jeno asks us to trust him, we should. He’s an adult now.”

Johnny scowls at him when Doyoung opens his eyes to smile at him.

“Yeah,” Jeno says, grips the back of Doyoung’s head lightly and pushes the washcloth gently against his forehead to start wiping the stain off. “And he’s in contact with Mark, we already argued about the plan again.”

“That kid is in contact with Mark? Right now?” Doyoung blurts, gets pinched back by Johnny for fidgeting so much.

“Yep,” Jeno confirms, steps back and opens the washroom door and switches back to common. “Donghyuck, come here.”

When Donghyuck comes over, he takes in the scene, Johnny rubbing as much stain as he can off and Jeno grinning at him like he’s just eaten the canary.

“Hey,” Donghyuck says in greeting. Doesn’t really know what to do.

“You can talk to Mark?” Johnny asks, doesn’t take his eyes off Doyoung.

“Uh, yeah.” Donghyuck says hesitantly. “But he’s not the only one there.”

“That’s fine,” Doyoung says, one hand wrapped around Johnny’s wrist to steady himself. “Can we talk to him?”

Donghyuck bites his lip, glances at Jeno, and then back at Doyoung. “Not really. It’s a little...hard to get the comm moved onto someone else. But I can talk to him for you.”

Doyoung nods, closes his eyes when Johnny starts wiping his face. “Just tell him that we miss him and we love him.”

Jeno thinks it’s probably a little embarrassing to Donghyuck to have to do that, but he only hesitates a little before repeating what was said to him to Mark. “He said he feels the same way,” Donghyuck says after a second, lifts his eyes politely to the ceiling when Doyoung peels off his robe and shorts and drops into the tub.

“Thank you,” Doyoung says, smiles at Donghyuck.

Jeno likes Donghyuck a lot. He didn’t even look twice at the blue on Doyoung. It was so prominent just then too, and he hadn’t even looked shocked. Maybe Mark had prepped him, or he didn’t know what Inannian traditions were like (and that was the probable option).

“Who else is there?” Johnny asks while he gets the usual herbs and salts that Doyoung uses to scrub the stain. He sits next to the bath and hands the materials over to Doyoung, who looks at Donghyuck for an answer.

“We have six people on our ship normally,” Donghyuck says brightly. “Me, Yuta, Sicheng, Taeil, Jaehyun, and Taeyong.”

Doyoung nearly sloshes water over the side of the tub when he jolts at Donghyuck saying _Taeyong_. “Mark really found him? Taeyong?” He demands, looks like he’s about to jump out of the water.

Jeno pretends like he doesn’t notice the stiff set of Johnny’s shoulders, the clench of his jaw, the way his eyes narrow at Doyoung.

Donghyuck nods, launches into a story about how they heard about Mark and how Mark tricked him on Teythea. Doyoung is absolutely delighted to hear about what Mark has been getting up to, has to be prodded by Johnny to actually use the scrubs. Jeno can’t even be bitter that Mark has been living it up on Teythea while he and Johnny and Doyoung have been suffering here, not when Doyoung is so obviously happy that everything has gone the way he hoped.

 

 

►

 

 

Johnny and Jeno decide it’s best to leave around the middle of the night. Few people will be out, but less soldiers should be patrolling as well. No crowd for them to blend into, but hopefully less people to avoid.

When they leave, Jeno takes them down the servant staircase on the second floor. It leads directly to the bottom of the palace, passed the soldiers positioned at the entrances. The servant’s entrance is well hidden among the outer palace walls, so they can sneak out without anyone suspecting. They had all dressed in black, and Doyoung had been given a mask to cover the bottom portion of his face to at least partially hide the blue tint to his skin.

They make it halfway fine, are nearly out of the city when Jeno pauses, presses back into the shadows of a building and holds his arms out to stop them.

“There are soldiers,” Jeno whispers to them, silently curses himself for not thinking about this portion of their escape. Of course the castle and city would be fine, but now they have to get out of the perimeter.

“I can get us around them,” Donghyuck says, starts to already step out, but Johnny catches his arm.

“How?”

“I’ll just distract them,” Donghyuck says quietly, tries to shake Johnny’s arm off.

Jeno glances around the corner and counts the soldiers. “Too many to distract. How’d you get in before?”

Donghyuck thinks for a second, “I just went through the front gate.”

Jeno frowns, looks at Johnny for help.

Doyoung hums, catches their attention instead. “We could just use the sewer.”

And. Well. Gross. But...

“That would work,” Johnny says slowly, and Donghyuck shrugs when they look at him.

Sewer time it is then, and they walk around until they find a manhole to crawl into. It takes the four of them to left the cover, but they get in. Johnny manages to pull it back over when they climb down, and Jeno clicks his flashlight on.

“Taeyong and I used to do this,” Doyoung laughs, points Jeno in the direction to go.

From there, it’s easy to get across the planet.

Doyoung gets more bubbly the closer they get, and Jeno can’t help but get excited also.

The sky is brightening when they finally get to the 127. Mark is already outside, had run the second he spotted them in the distance and crashed into Doyoung, Jeno, and Johnny. Doyoung laughed, let Mark rub his face on him like a dog and squeezed him tightly.

“You’re so thin now,” Mark pouted, fingers pinching at Doyoung’s waist.

“Be quiet,” Doyoung laughed, passed Mark on to Johnny who sweeped him right off the ground.

“Next time, think before you go off and do your crazy missions by yourself,” Johnny muttered into Mark’s hair, squeezed him even harder than Doyoung had.

Mark wrapped an arm around Jeno’s neck and pressed his knuckles into his head once Johnny let him go. “I heard what you said about me, you little brat!”

They just laughed, Mark clinging to Doyoung the rest of the walk to the ship.

“Taeyong’s there,” Mark whispers into Doyoung’s ear once they get close, and Doyoung has already narrowed onto the figure at the bottom of the cargo door. Hands wringing nervously like they always had when Doyoung would get out of his classes later than usual.

There are a couple of others gathered on the cargo door that was lowered onto the ground, but Doyoung can’t focus on them. Mark detaches when Taeyong starts walking towards them, moves on to leech on Johnny.

Jeno keeps his eyes on them though, drinks in what Taeyong looks like. He’s still similar to the picture Mark had given Doyoung, and it’s so...unbelievable to him that Taeyong is real.

Taeyong’s hands immediately go to Doyoung’s cheeks, and Doyoung’s are drawn so naturally to Taeyong’s waist that Jeno’s nose crinkles at the PDA.

He finally turns when they kiss, examines the rest of the crew of the 127 that’s similarly trying to not pry into their moment.

Johnny is looking though, and Jeno wraps an arm around the older man’s pointedly, drags his attention to him. Maybe Johnny understand that Jeno knows, but maybe he doesn’t. He’s not that great at hiding, and Jeno hopes he doesn’t get stuck. Doesn’t leave them.

But that’s a big jump. They’re only just getting their new beginning, after all.


End file.
